


brotherly love

by Misterdevere



Series: what’s life without love [23]
Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Brotherly Bonding, Domestic Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:53:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26400715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misterdevere/pseuds/Misterdevere
Summary: Leo and Frankie's relationship, from first meeting to brothers
Relationships: Merlin/Gary "Eggsy" Unwin
Series: what’s life without love [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1868476
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	brotherly love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lyssa13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyssa13/gifts).



> Because Lyssa13 wanted toddler Frankie and Leo, and Frankie warming to Leo
> 
> I hope this is the kind of thing you had in mind, and I hope you enjoy it ❤️

“Ready?” Eggsy twisted to face Leo in the back of the car.

“No. I feel like I’m about to do an exam that I had no idea how to fucking revise for.”

“Just be yourself, mate. Without the swearing.”

“But they’re gonna be judging me, right? They’re gonna be judging you two based on me?”

“They’re only judging to see that you’re safe for him to be around. Everyone in there knows he’s shy, he don’t know me and Merlin that well yet and you’re another new person when he’s already had a lot of them in the last couple of months. They know he might be too overwhelmed to even speak to you, they’re not gonna think badly of you if you’re not thick as thieves by the time we leave.”

“Alright.” Leo nodded resolutely and the three of them approached the house. They were greeted by Frankie’s temporary foster parents and led through to the living room where a social worker was playing on the floor with him. They’d be allowed to visit without social workers eventually but it was Leo’s first time meeting him so it wouldn’t be just yet. Eggsy and Merlin crouched beside the young boy but Leo stayed back, taking the seat offered to him for fear of scaring him by having too many people all in his face at once.

“Hey, Frankie.” Eggsy grinned brightly at him.

“Hello, little lad.” Merlin’s smile was smaller but no less warm.

Frankie looked up from his blocks at the pair of them. “Hi.”

“How you doing? Good?” Frankie nodded. “This is Leo. Remember we told you about him last time?”

“Yeah.”

“Hi.” Leo smiled at him but Frankie just stared at him warily with big hazel eyes.

“Are you going to say hello to Leo, Frankie?” His foster mum tried to intervene, hoping encouragement from those that he was most familiar with would make him come out of his shell a little, but Frankie shook his head. She gave Leo an apologetic smile. “He’s just shy. He didn’t speak to us much when he first came here. Or your dads, I’m sure they’ve mentioned.”

“Yeah. It’s okay, must be kind of scary for him. Lots of new faces.” Merlin and Eggsy were left to play with him and settled themselves more comfortably on the rug while Leo watched. He made conversation with Frankie’s foster parents - and Eggsy and Merlin helped - but it all felt about as awkward as he expected it to.

They all sat on the sofa together after lunch, Frankie in Merlin’s lap and Eggsy looking at them both with surely the dreamiest eyes ever to exist. Frankie seemed more interested in keeping an eye on Leo than he did in either of them, and while Leo couldn’t help grinning at him each time he peered over, the little one didn’t seem to have much to say to anyone while he was there.

The rest of the afternoon carried on much the same and before long, Eggsy and Merlin were giving him hugs goodbye, and while he still refused to say goodbye, Leo did at least get a little wave. He spent most of the journey home staring out of the window with the knuckle of his thumb between his teeth. Merlin glanced at him in the rear view mirror. “You’re thinking hard, lad.”

Eggsy turned to look at him over his shoulder. “Alright?”

“Yeah, fine.” Eggsy wasn’t at all convinced and his face said so. “I want him to like me. I don’t wanna mess things up.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, mate.”

“I don’t want them to think I weren’t trying hard enough with him or whatever.”

“They’d have expected you to be nervous, lad. They know how important these meetings and first impressions are to people and families, they don’t expect them to go perfectly.”

“There’ll be loads of chances for you to get used to each other before we get approved to have him come and live with us anyway, I swear there’s nothing for you to worry about.”

The second time went better in that Frankie at least said hello to him. He still kept a bit of distance as his dads played with the toddler and just as they had last time, they all had lunch together, but Frankie was much quicker to wriggle out of Merlin’s hold and return to his toys. It wasn’t long before he wandered up to Leo and silently handed him a wooden block. “Ta.” Leo thought (hoped, really) that it was an invitation to play so he joined him on the floor with legs folded. “What are we building?”

“Castle.”

“Wow!” Leo helped him stack the bricks up and gasped dramatically when it fell down. “Oh no! Shall we try again?” Frankie nodded and they started a new tower together. He didn’t quite manage to get a hug before they left but he did get a goodbye.

The third time, Leo came bearing gifts. He crouched down in front of Frankie when they arrived. “I have something for you.”

“A present?” Leo nodded. “What is it?” Leo pulled a folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket and handed it over. “Dino!”

“That’s right. I know you like dinos.” Frankie nodded happily. The kid had a box full of toys, including a ton of plastic dinosaurs so trying to buy him more seemed kind of hopeless. But Leo had been playing around with making paper planes and thought to try making other things, a little green T-Rex in this case. There was a fair chance he’d either put it in his mouth or rip it to pieces but he could always make another one.

“What do you say, Frankie?” It was Frankie’s foster dad stepping in and Eggsy and Merlin had to stop themselves from thinking that that should be their jobs. He wasn’t theirs yet.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Leo ruffled his curls before he really thought about it but was pleased that Frankie didn’t seem to mind. They went for a picnic in the park down the road, and Frankie squealed with delight as Eggsy pushed him on the swing and spun him on the roundabout. He went to clamber onto Merlin once they were finished eating but Leo was quick to warn him. “Pop.” He nodded towards Frankie’s hands as he barely held in a laugh. “Might wanna mind chocolatey fingers.”

Merlin grabbed a wet wipe and cleaned his hands as Frankie muttered to himself, _Pop pop pop pop_ , and Eggsy’s heart might actually have burst.

They parted ways from there and all got tight cuddles from Frankie before they did.

The next time they met, Eggsy and Merlin barely got the pleasantries out of the way before Frankie was dragging Leo to sit with him. “Will you play trains with me?”

“Yeah, okay.” They knew that Frankie would warm up to him but it was still heartwarming to see. Leo couldn’t always make it between uni and work so Eggsy and Merlin always had a couple of visits without him in between and had no problem at all being pushed aside when he was there. “Which one’s your favourite?”

“Gordon.” Frankie pointed him out.

“Why’s he your favourite?”

“He’s the fastest one.”

“That’s very useful.” Frankie nodded. “What are the other ones called?”

“That one’s Thomas. And James and Percy and Emily.” He pointed at each of them in turn and then picked up a helicopter. “This is Harold. And there’s one called Merlin.” Frankie laughed with both hands over his mouth like it was the funniest thing in the world and Leo was completely besotted. He laughed along with the boy as he caught Merlin’s eye and found them both watching on in total adoration. They played for a while with Frankie giving instructions now and then, even putting on a voice for The Fat Controller, and Leo happily followed along. Eventually he slowed down a bit but still pushed trains around to avoid looking at Leo properly. “Are you gonna be my brother?”

Leo took a deep breath before he answered. They knew that they were really just going through the motions, that anything that would prevent them from becoming his foster family would’ve been flagged by now, but until everything went through, nothing was certain and the idea that it might fall through had become unbearable to all of them. “I hope so.”

“Me too.” Leo smiled at him but he could just as easily have cried. “And your daddies will be my daddies?” Leo nodded. “Are they good daddies?”

“The best in the whole wide world.” And he truly meant it. His heart ached for Frankie because he was 20 years old and he’d be completely lost without his parents so he couldn’t imagine how scary it must be for a two-year-old, but he also couldn’t imagine anyone else being able to fill that void as well as Eggsy and Merlin would.

Eggsy nudged him with his shoulder as walked towards the car. “Told you he’d warm to you.”

“Yeah. I’m glad. He makes me so fucking broody though, I can’t wait to have my own.”

“Is that on the cards with George?”

“At some point, probably. I mean we’d start trying yesterday if it was up to me but she’s pretty strict on wanting a couple of years of working under our belts first.”

“That’s probably more sensible.”

“I know. Either way, can’t wait to have my little partner in crime with us.”

All three of them were there to collect Frankie and his things on moving day. He was sad to be leaving what had been home for the last few months but everyone involved had done everything they could to prepare him so he’d been excited in the run up and would probably be happy as soon as he set foot in his new home. Leo wiped tears from his chubby little cheeks as they drove along. “I know you’re upset about going but you get to live with your daddy and your poppop and the best big brother ever, and we’re so so happy. And you get to cuddle the dogs whenever you want, and your room is so cool. We can’t wait to show you. Ain’t that exciting?” Frankie stopped crying as Leo spoke to him but still pouted as he nodded. Leo leant in for a stage whisper. “And it’s a secret because daddy will gobble it all otherwise but we have chocolate ice cream in the freezer. I reckon we could sneak some after dinner.”

Leo kept chatting to him about silly things and by the time they got home, Frankie was giggling. Merlin carried him into the house while Eggsy and Leo carried his things, and Merlin and Frankie were in a bundle with JB and Mavis before the boxes even touched the ground. Eggsy smacked a big kiss on Leo’s cheek. “You _are_ the best big brother ever. I love you so much.”

**Author's Note:**

> As ever, you can find me on tumblr @misterdevere


End file.
